It is a no-brainer that you have a thriving business because your sales are up. You may have anticipated it or your growth may be unexpected. Nevertheless, your operations are hitting all the buttons.
A business is thriving when it serves its customers, employs a happy and growing staff, and makes money. These three things aren’t necessarily easy to do on their own, much less all at the same time. Most businesses are either serving their employees or making money. Some prioritize customers, but few do all three well enough to be considered truly thriving. If you’re looking for signs that your business is thriving—or that you should change directions to help it thrive—read on for our best indicators:
Your employees share a deep sense of purpose and understand how they contribute to the company’s mission
According to Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, this is one of the key indicators of a successful company. Collins found that most companies that survive and thrive for more than five years have a shared sense of purpose and direction. Thinking about your business in those terms, as a unified group of players working towards common goals, will help you communicate better with your employees. You’ll use fewer buzzwords and vague phrases, which can result in confusion and distrust.
An effective mission statement should be more than a PR tool–it should reflect the real culture of the business and its role in the world. When everyone on your team knows their purpose, they’re able to make decisions that lead to positive outcomes.
Your employees are confident in their skills and excited about the work they do every day
Employee confidence is a strong indicator of your company’s success. The more confident they are, the stronger they feel. The stronger they feel, the more passionate they become to be the best version of themselves.
Your employees see themselves as part of your business. They’re out to win, and willing to learn how to play their role well in your team to reach that goal. Their language and actions tell you they feel supported by you. They’re likely to be cheerful, friendly, driven, and confident. If your employees are demoralized or unhappy with their current status, their behavior will show you that too. For example, it’s common for them to cast blame on each other, although a lack of accountability is never acceptable.
Employees are coming to YOU for new job opportunities
The more interested people are in working for you and the more people want a job with your company, the better are your chances for growth and success.
Businesses can’t survive without customers, but a strong employer brand can be responsible for attracting and keeping the best ones. A strong employer brand that is recognized as more than just good – but great – will in turn generate more applicants for your open job positions.
When your business is thriving, all kinds of good things happen, including unexpected sales and praise from customers
While some signs of a thriving business are obvious, like an influx of sales and positive customer feedback, there are less obvious signs as well. These include company appearance, employee happiness and retention, supplier partnership, and management stability. Signs of a thriving business can almost always be found through hard work, knowledge of the industry, and adherence to proven enterprise principles.
If your business is thriving, people will notice. You’ll start getting calls and emails from surprise customers who heard about you through word-of-mouth or social media. You’ll have a harder time keeping up with customer demand than trying to keep up with the emails and phone calls from potential customers. It’s one of the best feelings in the world, and it’s yours for the taking when you own a thriving business.
Use these to determine how your business is going and how you need to grow it in the future
While these signs certainly don’t guarantee success, they are good indicators of a healthy and thriving business. If your business has some of these characteristics, congratulations! Keep working hard to make sure that it stays this way. And if you haven’t seen any of these signs in your business, don’t worry. This doesn’t mean that it’s not thriving. Look for other positive indicators, such as steady growth or consistent sales.
Automated software has saved businesses thousands of hours, lowering the cost of production. Still, as a business owner, you would want to see revenue exceed expenses. Graphing revenue on one axis and expenses on the other you will realize what happens when the lines cross. If they cross at a point below the center of the graph then you are losing money. Above it and you are profitable.
